NFL Player News

With Bruce Arians announcing his retirement Wednesday and plans to join the Bucs’ front office, Arians made the call to promote Bowles to head coach. And this isn’t in an interim role, just to clear that up, as Bowles is getting a five-year contract. Arians has been big on wanting Bowles to get another chance at a head-coaching job, and this was his best way to give that to him. Bowles has interviewed for numerous jobs over the last couple offseasons, but he’s been passed over for all of them. It seemed to legitimately piss Arians off that Bowles has been getting bypassed. He and Arians go way back, and Bowles now gets to lead the charge with Tom Brady back for another run at a Super Bowl. The Bucs will now look to find a replacement for Bowles at the coordinator spot.

A Wednesday LP would typically bode positively for a player’s availability but with Prater coming off of injured reserve, this places him more so in the “truly questionable” category. His Thursday and Friday participation levels are worth monitoring.

Benson sprained an ankle in Week 15 and passing-down specialist Emari Demercado (back) was recently placed on injured reserve. If Benson is unable to play, James Conner will again handle a high-volume rushing workload while dominating the two-minute drill and split splitting third- and fourth-and-long situations with DeeJay Dallas.

Watt’s Wednesday return bodes positively for his Week 16 availability, putting him on track to play against the Ravens. Watt had a big impact when these teams played each other in Week 11, notching five quarterback pressures and 1.0 NFL sacks.

The Steelers appear to be highly unlikely to have their No. 2 QB active for their Week 16 game against the Ravens. Anyone stashing Fields in re-draft formats can safely drop him.

CEH was waived by the Chiefs earlier this week. He began the year on the non-football injury list and was activated a month and a half into the season. He was a healthy scratch in every game after that before being cut. With Alvin Kamara banged up, the Saints are in need of some depth at running back. Kendre Miller would draw the start if Kamara misses Week 16. Edwards-Helaire would mix in for backup duties with Jamaal Williams if he can get up to speed in time.

Pickens is likely heading toward his third consecutive missed game. The per-game timeline exaggerates his absence though; Pickens is just 13 days removed from his actual injury date, having suffered the Grade 2 strain on December 5th. While he could attempt to play through the issue this week, a Week 17 return appears far more likely.

There’s nothing worse than a mid-week addition to the injury report, especially for a player with an injury history as extensive as Bateman’s. The Ravens play on Saturday meaning their first injury report of the week dropped yesterday. Bateman was not on it. With Diontae Johnson excused from the team this week and Nelson Agholor in concussion protocol, the Ravens may be down to Tylan Wallace and Devontez Walker in three-receiver sets for Week 16’s game versus the Steelers.

The Bengals listed him as limited with both “not injury related-rest” and the knee issue. Despite the contradiction, it’s just a maintenance day for Higgins. He will be good to go by the end of the week and remains in the WR2 ranks for his upcoming matchup with the Browns.

Burrow got the same maintenance treatment for last Wednesday’s practice and was cleared from the report entirely by Friday. He’ll do the same this week. Still not technically eliminated from the playoffs, Burrow and the Bengals offense are playing with their lives on the line this week. Expect another QB1 outing from Burrow when he takes on the NFC North rival Browns.

Surtain is ready to torment the Chargers’ perimeter wide receivers after practicing in full all week. The talented coverage defender infrequently covers the slot, logging just 54 slot snaps to 706 perimeter snaps this season. Chargers slot receiver Ladd McConkey should largely avoid Surtain on Thursday night.